


Five Times Merlin was a Disney Princess (and One Time Arthur was One Instead)

by Honyasbookshelf



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Because Merlin, Canon Era, Crack, Crossdressing, Curses, Disney References, Fairy Tale Tropes, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, Kidnapping, Magic, Merlin Has No Sense of Self-Preservation, No Romance, One Brief Non-Consensual Kiss, Secret Identity Fail, a touch of angst, sleeping beauty style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:27:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29404080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honyasbookshelf/pseuds/Honyasbookshelf
Summary: "The prince watched in horror as his best friend fell unconscious to the ground. The sorceress cackled viciously as the knights surrounded Merlin, trying to see where he was harmed or to wake him.'Only true love's kiss can wake him now,' she proclaimed before vanishing in a cloud of smoke."This is just me being ridiculous and playing with a bunch of Disney Princess tropes in the Merlin-verse. I couldn't get the idea out of my head, okay?
Relationships: Gwen & Merlin (Merlin), Knights of the Round Table & Merlin (Merlin), Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 49





	Five Times Merlin was a Disney Princess (and One Time Arthur was One Instead)

**Author's Note:**

> This story is 100% pure, unadulterated crack. Please don't try to read it seriously! I would say I'm sorry, but I actually had a lot of fun writing this. Enjoy!

**1**

Sir Lancelot was out on patrol with Sir Percival. It was a beautiful spring day, and he had to admit that he and his friend were perhaps not taking their duties quite as seriously as they might. He knew he could be rather uptight, but Percival had a way of helping him relax, making him take the time to stop and smell the roses as it were.

As they walked beside their horses, soaking in the warm sunshine, he paused, thinking he heard the sound of someone talking. And the sound of small animals. Lots of small animals.

He gestured to Percival, who nodded that he also heard the strange noises. Together, they approached carefully until they reached a small clearing, only to see . . . Merlin?

Yes, that was definitely Merlin with his red neckerchief and his dopey grin, practically shimmering with the magic leaking off of him and complaining aloud to an extensive audience of birds, mice, rabbits, squirrels, and even a deer. As Lancelot watched, a squirrel chittered, seemingly in response to Merlin's bemoaning the smell of Arthur's socks.

Lancelot stepped firmly on a thick twig, causing it to crack loudly to alert Merlin to their presence. Percival was one of Lancelot's best friends, but that didn't mean that he would betray Merlin's trust by revealing Merlin's magic or letting Percival find out by accident. Not if Lancelot could prevent it.

Merlin startled abruptly at the noise, the woodland creatures surrounding him darting away in a quiet scurry.

“Hi, um . . . Gaius sent me out to collect herbs?” he said by way of explanation, holding out the basket he was carrying in evidence. Lancelot just sighed.

**2**

Merlin _did_ think it was a bit strange when he went to collect Arthur's breakfast and found the entire kitchen staff singing a rousing chorus together. But maybe they were just trying to get into the spirit of things, raise morale or some such.

He began to be concerned when Arthur greeted him by listing his chores for the day in song. Arthur really wasn't the singing type. (It showed. He cringed when the prince reached for the high notes and just couldn't quite make them.)

But he _knew_ that something was horribly wrong when he found the inescapable urge come over himself to burst out into a glorious solo detailing the difficulties of having magic and having to keep it secret.

He held it in. Barely. The servant rushed out of the castle, through the lower town, and out into the countryside before he finally let it go.

And oh! It felt glorious to proclaim to the skies just how downtrodden and put-upon he felt at times, how he longed to tell Arthur _everything_. He was flushed and out of breath by the time he finished, glancing around to be sure no one had heard him.

Yeah, this was definitely some sort of spell. He'd better deal with that before too many secrets got told, or Camelot would be in trouble. For that matter, so would he.

**3**

Arthur gaped as the sorceress shot some sort of spell in his direction, too quickly for him to jump out of the way. Only, of course, _Mer_ lin just _had_ to dart in between him and the spell, the idiot. Seriously, the guy had zero sense of self-preservation.

The prince watched in horror as his best friend fell unconscious to the ground. The sorceress cackled viciously as the knights surrounded Merlin, trying to see where he was harmed or to wake him.

“Only true love's kiss can wake him now,” she proclaimed before vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

A moment's silence fell before everyone began clamoring.

“True love?!”

“A kiss. Really?”

“Does anyone know if Merlin has a girlfriend?”

“Boyfriend?”

“I've never seen him with anyone.”

“Maybe one of the girls at the tavern has a secret crush on him?”

As they were all talking over each other, Arthur noticed Gwaine lean over and plant a firm kiss right on Merlin's lips. Arthur began sputtering.

“Gwaine, wha— What are you— Why?” he fumbled out.

“She said it had to be true love. She never said it had to be romantic,” Gwaine retorted.

“But—”

A look of comprehension came over Gwaine's face as Arthur tried to process what he had just seen.

“Oh! Oh, sorry, princess, did you want to do it?” Gwaine asked, leaning back and grinning at Arthur as Merlin began to stir.

Arthur felt a horrifically embarrassed blush wash over his face. The very idea!

**4**

Merlin paused in the middle of cleaning the stables to breathe for a minute. It had been an insanely long day, and he wasn't done yet. Visiting nobles—and the huge parties their visits always entailed—were decidedly _not_ his favorite thing. Nearly everyone at the castle was gathering for a welcoming feast and dance tonight, but did he get to go? No, _he_ had to clean the stables and prepare the guests' rooms and help Arthur to bed at some ungodly hour of the night before he could even _think_ about resting himself.

A horse's whicker warned him that something was amiss. He looked up to see a small figure with greenish skin and a mischievous turn to its mouth.

“Hello?” Merlin said, not sure quite what he was looking at or what new troubles it portended for him.

“Oh, no, no, this won't do at all,” the figure said, shaking its head and looking Merlin up and down.

“Excuse me? Who are you? And what exactly do you want? Let me guess, revenge on the Pendragons?”

“Not at all, not at all. Oh my, where are my manners. You can call me Robin. And well, it's not exactly accurate, but just call me your fairy godmother.” The being's grin grew devious, showing far too many sharp teeth.

It waved its hand, and Merlin suddenly found himself no longer in his work clothes, covered with a full day's worth of grime. No, he was now so clean that his skin felt tight on him, and he was clothed in a ladies gown of the sort Morgana would wear—slinky, low-cut, yet impossibly elegant. He yelped in surprise.

“Ah, much better,” Robin said, snapping its fingers.

Suddenly, Merlin was rushing through the courtyard, into the castle, and through the halls, pushed onward by a firm wind at his back. He tumbled through a set of double doors right into the middle of the party.

Of course, everyone turned to stare after an entrance like that. Arthur's eyes met his across the room, the prince's eyebrows raising judgmentally at his manservant's unseemly (and shockingly dressed!) entrance.

“Merlin?!”

“I can explain—” Merlin stammered before breaking off. Yeah, he actually couldn't, could he?

**5**

Gwen stood, rubbing the rope burns on her wrists and trying to restore circulation to her hands. She watched as Merlin, who had been shoved in the room just before her, explored their prison.

Well, prison was a bit of a stretch. A neighboring lord had kidnapped them as some sort of leverage over Arthur. (He actually _hadn't_ been keen to tell them all his evil plans, what a surprise!) They'd been locked in a fairly nice room—with a very solid door, several stories up.

Gwen sat on the edge of the bed, part of her worried about their situation and what Arthur would do when he heard, part amused that the lord couldn't decide who would be better to take—the queen or the king's manservant—and part of her just curious what Merlin was up to.

She blinked in surprise as he bent over and stroked the large ornamental rug on the floor, which then rose to float a couple of feet off the floor. What?

“Hey, look, Gwen! This guy was keeping a magic carpet in here. I bet he didn't even know. Let's get out of here!” Merlin said, a guilty look on his face.

Uh-huh. That was totally a magic carpet—one that Merlin just magicked himself, she was sure. It was a wonder her friend hadn't been caught by now; he had no sense of self-preservation. Or maybe everyone knew like she did and just never said anything because Merlin had wormed his way into everyone's heart like he had into hers.

She smiled softly and climbed out the window to where he had the carpet positioned and waiting for her. And oh, that was an odd sensation, standing on a carpet with nothing below supporting it. Still, she trusted her friend.

Once they were both settled, the carpet shot off towards Camelot, the guards below shouting and gesturing wildly as they seemed to shrink into the distance, eventually disappearing behind the escaping duo.

Gwen looked around, the impossibility of the situation drowned in the wonder of it all. The view below as they soared above the trees was incredible. But oh, the exhilarated grin on Merlin's face—that was even better, she thought. She would do anything to keep that smile on his face forever.

**+1**

Merlin held in a snicker—or, well, he tried. Looking up at the tower that had no doors or windows except at the very top, high above him, he broke out in peals of laughter.

The prince's face staring back down at him was not amused. Which, honestly, well. Seeing that grumpy face glaring out from absolute _ages_ of golden hair was just too much. Merlin really couldn't help himself. The sorceress who had kidnapped the prince . . . well, Merlin would have to deal with her, of course, but he almost wanted to congratulate her on her sense of humor.

“Hey, Arthur,” he yelled up between giggles, “Throw your hair out the window. I'll climb up and get you out of there.”

Arthur glowered but complied (Merlin really hadn't been expecting that!), an absolute cascade of blond hair falling all the way to the ground. Yeah, Arthur wouldn't be hearing the end of this one anytime soon.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I hope you had fun with this bit of ridiculousness. Which scene was your favorite? What tropes/ideas would you have liked to see that I didn't include? I'd love to hear your thoughts! :D


End file.
